How to Spend a Week in the Maldives for Less Than One Night in a Resort

January 30, 2014 / By NomadicMatt

I’ve always wanted to visit the Maldives (edit:I finally did!). I’ve often dreamed of those over-water bungalows and white sand beaches. But those dreams turned into nightmares when I realized how much those bungalows actually cost. Luckily, changes in the way tourism is done in the country have allowed for a small but growing budget travel industry to emerge, and today, Kristin Addis from Be My Travel Muse shares how to travel the Maldives on a budget. She just got back, and I’m eager to hear her tips.

When you picture the Maldives, you might think of sitting outside an over-water bungalow while looking out over the jade- and sapphire-hued ocean, with nearby staff serving sparkling wines and waiting on your every whim.

It’s the epitome of romantic luxury.

And it costs a fortune. Resort prices start at hundreds per night and don’t even include food!

To many people, this country is an unreachable dream.

But what if I told you that you can easily stay in the Maldives for less than the price of a night at a luxury resort? What if I told you that you can travel to the Maldives without having to stay in high-priced resorts or eating overpriced food?

It wasn’t until I had impulse-booked an AirAsia flight to the island nation that I learned how easy and affordable travel to the Maldives can be.

While the Maldives are known for their luxury resorts and over-the-top pampering, it’s possible to enjoy an affordable trip to paradise.

Travelling to the Maldives for Cheap

Getting to these beautiful islands used to cost a great deal of both time and money, with flights upwards of $1000 and lots of layovers.

The great news is that now more and more regional airlines are offering very reasonable flights to the Maldives. For example, Sri Lankan Airlines flies from Colombo to Malé for around $100 USD one-way. Cheap tickets can also be found on Emirates via Dubai, with fares starting at $300. Low-cost airline AirAsia just introduced a route from their hub in Kuala Lumpur with fares as low as $130 (which is how I ended up here). Flights from Bangkok and Singapore start at $300.

In short, you can fly here from most major hubs in the Middle East and Asia on cheap, direct flights.

(Matt says: If you aren’t already in the region to take advantage of the cheap fares and want to fly from North America, Europe, or Australia, your international airfare can get pricey, but with travel hacking you can score some free flights. Find out more here.)

Getting Around The Maldives for Cheap

In the Maldives, nothing is accessible without taking a ferry or additional domestic flight. The ferries from the airport to and from Malé (the main island) are right near the airport exit and can’t be missed. With the exception of prayer times — five times per day in keeping with the Muslim religion — they’re always running and leave when full. The ferry to Malé leaves every 15 minutes, costs $1 USD, and is about a 20-minute ride.

From Malé, take a taxi for around $5 to the main ferry station to access the other islands.

To get around the islands, you can take a public ferry, but be sure to check the timetables as the ferries don’t run every day of the week. Ferry prices are $3–20 USD. If a ferry doesn’t run on the day you need or your island of choice is too far to be accessed by ferry, you’re looking at either a night in Malé, a very expensive (think $300–400) speedboat, or a $200 domestic flight.

If you’re looking to visit an island farther away from Malé, you’ll need to do some island hopping via the ferry system, which might require you to stay overnight on an island along the way.

Best Budget Friendly Places To Stay In Maldives

In 2009, the Maldives started allowing locals to start their own guesthouses. This opened the door for several affordable and locally owned establishments to welcome guests on the local islands. Though there are still no hostel or dorm options in the country, private rooms can be found for as little as $40 per night. If you’re traveling with a friend or partner, your share drops to $20.

I used Airbnb, which I found useful because it allows you to communicate directly with the host. I stayed on Mahibadoo at the Amazing Noovilu on Ari Atoll.

My guesthouse owner used to work for the resorts, so he had a great handle on what his guests wanted and how to cater to their needs. The room itself was clean and comfortable, with air conditioning and fans. The bathroom was Maldivian style: outdoors but completely walled off for privacy, with frangipani plants growing through the sand and up around the shower. It was easily the coolest bathroom I’ve ever used. Plus, it had hot water and a Western-style toilet.

If you’re looking to experience the Maldives, get to know the locals, and save money at the same time, staying at one of these small guesthouses will allow you to experience the beauty and wonder of this stunning part of the world without paying resort prices (which normally start at $300 a night).

To find these privately run (and affordable) guesthouses, the following sites are the best:

Eating on a Budget

At my guesthouse, each meal was authentic Maldivian cuisine, eaten as a group with the owner’s family and included in the price of the guesthouse. This is typical, as many islands don’t have a lot of restaurants, so you’ll find most guesthouses include meals in their nightly rate.

If your guesthouse doesn’t provide meals, local restaurants are very inexpensive. Coffee houses around the island serve coffee from early morning until late at night for around $1.50. They also offer snacks, sandwiches, and noodles for closer to $3.

Moreover, each morning I was there, fishermen would dock and sell off some of their catches. You could easily join the locals, haggle for some fresh fish straight from the source for reasonable prices, and then throw it on the grill at your guesthouse.

Other than grilled fish, typical Maldivian cuisine involves breakfast of sweet and thick milk tea, canned tuna mixed with onion and lime juice, and delicious flat bread called roshi, which is similar to Indian roti. Lunches and dinners consisted mainly of incredibly fresh fish, mouthwatering curries, more roshi, and buttered rice, which we ate with our hands (though a fork and spoon were provided if desired).

Budget Friendly Excursions In The Maldives

Given how much emphasis I had put on diving via our Airbnb correspondence, my guesthouse owner made it a point to take me out on a few dives himself, renting the gear from local sea cucumber fishermen and asking his brother to drive us out in the family’s speed boat. It ended up being just the two of us, which meant that I was diving the best reefs in the world without any other divers around for only $65 per tank.

My host also took us snorkeling with manta rays (for $30) and, something I’ve been dying to see for years: whale sharks. Other boatloads of tourists jumped in, only to have to jump back out of the water five minutes later due to the nature of larger group snorkeling tours in the Maldives. I, however, had the pleasure of swimming with a whale shark for 45 minutes, since my guide was happy for me to stay as long as I wanted. He was enjoying the encounter as much as I was!

Every excursion was like this, from night fishing on a local fisherman’s boat (for $25), to visiting a nearby deserted island ($60). I had a private tour guide each day, driving me to the best spots and offering flexibility that just doesn’t come with a packaged resort. These kinds of experiences are much more attainable when staying at a smaller guesthouse; most even list their prices for excursions on their websites and Airbnb listings, so you know what you’re getting into before booking.

If your guesthouse doesn’t provide these tours, ask the local resorts what they might provide. They may be willing to let you join their excursions even though you’re not staying with them. Tour operator Secret Paradise also specializes in helping those who want a local experience to set up tours and scuba diving while avoiding expensive resorts.

Other Things to Remember When Travelling To The Maldives

While I wouldn’t trade my experience for anything, I would think twice about going the cheap route if I wanted to be able to drink wine and wear a bikini, which is generally allowed only on the resort islands. The Maldives is a Muslim country and forbids alcohol (and pork!) from entering the country or being consumed on local islands. It’s also important for women to cover up shoulders and legs, which means no bikinis, though once we left the island on an excursion, a bikini was fine.

Additionally, while my guesthouse was great, it was still going through some growing pains, such as a lack of Wi-Fi and the occasional cold shower, as most of the newer guesthouses do.

But it was eye-opening to find out that it’s entirely possible to spend a week in the Maldives, complete with excursions and meals, for the same price as just one night in a resort bungalow. While being pampered is great, I don’t like being walled away in a fancy resort. Taking advantage of the opportunity to see how local Maldivians live, eating meals with them, and joining them for excursions on their speedboats made paradise even more idyllic.

Budget tourism on the Maldives is just beginning, and now is a good time to go, as there are still not many foreigners outside the resorts (I was the only foreigner on my ferry) and the islands are not on many budget travelers’ radar. The remoteness of the country will always mean that it will take time and some money to get to, but the Maldives is no longer the exclusive playground of the wealthy and can be enjoyed by travelers of all types.

Kristin Addis is a former investment banker who sold all of her belongings and bid California goodbye in favor of traveling solo through Asia while searching for off-the-beaten-path adventures. There’s almost nothing she won’t try and almost nowhere she won’t explore. You can find more of her musings at Be My Travel Muse. Connect with her on Twitter and Facebook.

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Some very solid tips here from Kristin. The only thing I would add is the option of taking a “Safari Cruise” (think basic boat, with guide and cook…6-12 people. It can be extremely cheap and you get to visit many islands. I spent more in 36 hours at a resort than a week on a safari boat. Cheers!

Great article about Maledives. It is paradise on earth. :::: I want to add that this country is a muslim country and you should behave in the right way. Dont disturb with to much alcohol or bringing the bible inside the country. I´ve read on an other blog that they could not go inside the country because they had the bible inside their bag. Also you have to pay a tourist tax if you come inside the country (as far as the other blog wrote). ::::

Written lines from “::::” till “::::” are not grown in my mind, but are information from an other blog I dont remeber the exact blog-name. So I distance myself of correctness.

This sounds amazing! Traveling there is something that I definitely want to do. I looked at the costs and it seemed to high, but after reading this I think I need to put it back on my list of travels 🙂

Thanks for sharing your experience Kristin. I have always dreamed of visiting the Maldives and with your tips this dream may become more reachable for me. Although I do love a good luxury resort from time to time, I prefer to stay with the locals to get a better understanding of their lifestyle and culture.

WOW! Just finished reading this. Amazing. I thought the Maldives were all fancy resorts and by no means possible to stay at for “normal” people.

This was an eye-opener! We’ll definitely go to the Maldives when we’re in Asia next winter. It sounds like an amazing opportunity to experience paradise on a budget. Thanks for sharing, Matt. Just shared this on our blog’s Facebook Page.

Will check out Kristin’s blog now – I’m hungry for more on the Maldives! 🙂

So… question… how are women supposed to swim if they need to cover up? And what would we wear in general? Going to a tropical island and wearing jeans and long-sleeves shirts, and not being able to enjoy the beach doesn’t sound appealing, but I’d love to see the Maldives.

I never swam on the local island. Every day I ended up doing an excursion like diving, swimming with mantas, or going to a deserted island. In all of these cases it was fine to wear a bikini because you’re either in the middle of the ocean, on a boat, or on an uninhabited island. If you really wanted to swim on the local island just do so in some light pants and a t-shirt.

Thanks Kristin for this informative post! And thanks Matt for hosting this post. Maldives is someplace I’ve always dreamed of visiting and this information pushes that dream into a reality. I can’t thank you enough!

Thanks so much for this post – it’s about time the word spread about alternative options for visiting the Maldives! To clarify, there are some guesthouses that have private beaches and even swimming pools. So, visitors can still have the bikini beach holiday experience without having to take an excursion to a deserted island or a resort. One of the best parts of the Maldives and staying at guesthouses has to be the sense of seclusion – the islands are so scattered that you can still feel you’re the only tourists around. We’ve been twice, both times via guesthouses, and I’m sure we’ll be back. Enjoy the Maldives, all!

This is a big development! While the all-inclusive resorts have their allure, the life of a backpacker will always be more appealing. We haven’t had a real way to connect with the Maldivian locals … UNTIL NOW. Thanks for spreading the word Kristin!

Thanks for the information. We too don’t use the big resorts, either. I’m good with anything as long as it has airconditioning. After all, the amount if time I’m at my sleeping spot us usually pretty minimal.

Wow! That is quite the scene there in Muslim beach-land, looks amazing! I am just getting started on a world trip, after my wife and I sold our restaurant. Your blog is very inspiring, I am going to attempt to record our travels online as well. I appreciate your sense of how fleeting life can be, and we need to go experience it now.

Great post!! I’ve been to Maldives a few years ago and it can be quite pricey but over the past years it’s getting a bit more accessable for independent travelers, though it’s not as easy to travel around compare to other island archipelagos in Asia.

The Maldives are an amazing destination, but if people go independently on a budget they might be a bit disappointed when the place looks not like the image they have from the Maldives. Staying on an island with locals is different than staying on a tourist package island. The beach might be not as clean and wearing a bikini is a no no. On the other hand, you’ll get to meet the locals and share an incredible experience which you won’t have if you stay in your private water bungalow in a 5 star resort. If you know what to expect, you’ll surely enjoy the paradise islands of the Maldives.

A good and cheaper alternative to the Maldives are the Philippines. An Archipelago of over 7000 islands and the beaches/islands are absolutely comparable to the ones in the Maldives regarding to its beauty and underwater life. And the best: it will cost only a fraction to stay there and travel around compare to a trip to the Maldives… I recommend seeing both places and decide what’s the ultimative paradise for you. Happy travels!

One of the groups at my guest house had a baby and were still able to do many of the activities. I would think children would LOVE swimming with manta rays and whale sharks. I know I would have at that age (and still do of course)!

$40/night is a fair price for paradise! I tend to prefer staying in homestays and family-run guest houses whenever possible anyway. Thanks for an eye-opening post. It’s funny how the reputation of a place can prevent you from going. The more I travel the more I realize that a lot of what I’ve read online is simply false and sometimes you have to just go and find out the truth yourself!

Wow, great read… thanks! We are budget travelers who are headed to The Maldives in March and we would love to stay at the guest house you stayed at. We use AirBnB so if you could tell me the title heading, I’d be able to search for it! We like the idea of all those little tours with a private guide. Did I read right that the guest house guy took you around on those, too? Or another guide?

Thanks for inspiring us to go to the Maldives. After saving for years, we quit our London jobs to travel the world and we booked to visit the Maldives as a detour from our India/Sri Lanka leg of our trip.

We went in November 2014 to Thoddoo island staying at Serene Sky Guesthouse. A lot has changed since. Wifi is now more widely available as well as hot showers – but you won’t need them.

Main advice I’d give is STOCK UP on as much mosquito repellent and sunblock cream as you can/need. It’s ridiculously expensive anywhere in the Maldives as it’s all imported.

Hey Matt, thoroughly enjoyed reading your post on the Maldives. My boyfriend and I have just spent a week in Maafushi and found that it can be both romantic and cheap if done correctly. You really don’t need to spend lots of cash to feel you are in paradise. We are also (as another person commented) a couple that do not always enjoy being waited on hand and foot. Maafushi proved to be the exact Maldivian experience we were looking for. We have written an article on our time spent there. Check it out! Happy travels Matt

Thank you! This spring my 11 year old son and I were traveling the world when our next destination became off the list. We were in Dubai, and the Nepal earthquake happened, so we needed to change our plans. Maldives were a short plane ride away, so we went. Booked a fabulous little place on the inhabited island of Rasdhoo, and went (yes, I highly recommend Rasdhoo Island Inn, the staff truly care about your experience, and treat you as family). Your budget Maldives web post was such a great guide, especially when there is very little in-country signage for the independent traveler. As a single woman with a son traveling budget in the Maldives, I’m sure my experience was different then yours. I questioned whether it was ok for me to patron restaurants since no women were there, and we were skipped over for a taxi ride in Male, when muslim women were given rides. The only local woman willing to talk to me was at the airport. But I wouldn’t change a thing. It is a beautiful little country with beautiful genuine spirit that is untainted by tourism. The men accepted my son as one of the men on the island, and the experience of small island life untainted by tourists is a treasure for sure.

Your posts inspired us to go where we would not have gone (the Maldives wouldn’t have fit in our budget world travel if you hadn’t shown that it isn’t $300 per night like in the brochures). We got to see it in such a small window, after the island’s were open to westerners and before climate change effects the islands. Thank you!

Very nice article, my company has some business in Maldives and I have contact with a partner there for more than 10 years. Always thought of wanting to dive there (besides that I see no reason to go). But the resort type of set up is off putting for me as well. Price and style of holiday, I want to sample local (as in small restaurant, road side stall where only locals eat) food, local live (as in where people shop, entertain themselves, etc). Also I do not like to be served by people who earn in 1 or 2 months what I spend in one day in the resort…

Hey everyone! Due to the age of this post and the difficulty in moderating lots of posts spam, comments here have been turned off. If you would like to continue the discussion, head over to the forums at http://forums.nomadicmatt.com and chat there! I post frequently and reply to threads on the boards! See ya there! Thanks! – Matt